Ocean eyes
by Pan-snow
Summary: Pre-Meteor- A childhood encounter between Tifa and Rude and its progression to the present. RR


Author's note: I used // for thoughts  
  
"Tifa, punch him!"  
  
Tifa stood there, her fists firmly pressed to her sides.  
  
"Do something.."  
  
She tightened her fingers. Fingers wound and laced together. She brought her hand back and in one fluid motion, she should have pushed forth.  
  
But...  
  
Her fingers became limp, and the laces began to break apart. Her whole body slumped across the cold floor. The wood fell like splinters into her legs.  
  
A hand was gently pressed against Tifa's chin, forcing it up.  
  
"You have to learn to fight him," Zangan said sternly." Training here is only going to prepare you what lies outside these four walls."  
  
" I can't fight him Zangan, he's my friends," Tifa said softly. " I can't imagine my fist penetrating his skin, blackening it."  
  
" Rude is a tough soul. He's not likely fall anytime soon."  
  
Tifa sighed deeply, lifting the remaining spirit left in her. Her eyes strayed to the boy in the white robe with his disheveled black hair dangling across his forehead. Green eyes shadowed by blue smiling at her.  
  
" Just pretend I'm your enemy and hit me," Rude said with a grin plastered widely on his face.  
  
"I don't want you to get hurt,"  
  
"You don't think I'm man enough to sustain some girly punches," a smirk quivering at his lips.  
  
" Girly.."  
  
Tifa lunged forth, her arms pressed firmly ahead of her. Rude caught her arms as she stumbled across the mat plummeting head first into the patted elastic rubber which extended like water across the floor.  
  
"You have the grace of a fighter," he smiled. The light dancing around his eyes.  
  
Tifa laid there silently her eyes steadily locked with Rude's. It reminded her of endless currents and the frothing foam which blanketed the ocean. She went to the beach once with her mother. She would pick up shells and let her feet sink into the water until she felt the liquid encompass her. For those few moments, as her body was submerged in water, as her body defied nature, she felt free. Free, from all the problems that weighed deeply on her heart.  
  
" Earth to Tif, what are you doing?" his eyebrow corked up.  
  
" I love your eye's Rude," she whispered.  
  
"Is that all you love..." Rude said softly, his smile softening.  
  
"Rude..," she pulled his arm swiftly. His feet slipped from gravity, and his back was twisted against the floor.  
  
Tifa smiled.  
  
"Lockheart, you're going to pay," he raised his fist.  
  
" Rude, you have a letter from Midgar," Zangan called from the back of a dark hall.  
  
The amused lines engraved in his face dissipated. As his mouth slowly parted in awe.  
  
Tifa lifted her head. It felt colder.  
  
Her eyes wander to the place where Rude had been laying minutes ago. The indentation was slowly melting until it was nothing more than an ordinary flat rubber mat on the ground. As if nothing had changed.  
  
But..  
  
" I have to leave tomorrow,"  
  
" What?!" Tifa mumbled awkwardly. She felt her heart drop into a dark pit as her body broke out in silent shivers. Everything was going cold..  
  
"I was accepted to the program in Midgar which I applied for a while back.."  
  
Rude paused as he saw her face became glazed and numb.  
  
//Mom.... then cloud.. now you.  
  
He was leaving.  
  
"Tifa."  
  
She didn't move.  
  
"Tifa."  
  
He gripped her shoulders shaking them frantically. She look dead, a ghost slowly fading from this world.  
  
Tifa shook her head.  
  
"Congratulations, I'm so happy for you," her voice was flat with a feigned note of excitement in her voice.  
  
Rude stared at Tifa uncertainly, his brow furrowed.  
  
"What were you thinking about Lockheart?" he said softly, his hand holding hers.  
  
Tifa bit down on her lip.  
  
"I missed my mom, so I just felt sort of nostalgic,"  
  
She tilted her head to the ground.  
  
She was a horrible liar. It was written on her face, line distorting awry until the crime was meticulously engrave on her face.  
  
// I have to be happy for him, he's following his dreams. He's being someone. And, I'm just..  
  
"We'll still see each other, you'll just have to come up to Midgar sometimes,"  
  
She bit down on her tongue, another lie.  
  
"Sure."  
  
*****************************  
  
She held her breath. Her stomach felt queasy and she was afraid she was going to be vomiting all over the puke green stained seats. At least the stain would be hidden.  
  
She never was going on a train ever again. The uneasy swaying of the vehicle, and the constant jerking feeling made her want jump out of train and return back to the safe stable ground.  
  
Remembering was the only thing keeping her calm.  
  
// I'm doing this for you Rude  
  
She hadn't seen him for nearly a year.  
  
She received a letter every now and then from Rude. But, it wasn't enough to quench that uncertainty growing darkly through her heart. Part of her felt empty when Rude left, she just couldn't place her finger on it.  
  
She looked at her palm, the faint scars that marred the surface. She had changed great deal since Rude left. Her hands were stronger. The callous that scarred her left palm, was a faint trace of the pain and sweat she endured.  
  
She leaned her head against the railing, letting the steel brush against her face. The cold didn't bother her as much anymore.  
  
*******************  
  
She gave the wrinkled paper a cursory glance before cupping it back in her pocket. She was nervously picking at the hem of her skirt.  
  
She was almost there.  
  
Her eyes flickered at the numbers engraved on the buildings.  
  
The Upper plate was grand, the streets and houses were like something from a fairytale her mother used to read her.  
  
But..  
  
However remarkable and extravagant the plaza's and fountain's adorned with gold seemed, it wasn't the same as Nibleheim. It wasn't even close.  
  
Her steps hastened.  
  
// Just around the corner  
  
Her heart stopped.  
  
She gripped the ledge as her knees convulsed with silent shivers as every fiber turned a ghastly white. She felt herself falling, but she held the ledge tighter. She wasn't going to fall this time.  
  
A tall boy with shaven black hair stood on the steps of a antique Victorian building. His left arm casually in his pocket while the other lingered on the concrete steps.  
  
Interlaced with his hand was another. Her light brown hair was tied back as she smiled flirtatiously at the boy.  
  
Tifa shook her head.  
  
// I'm happy for you Rude.  
  
She bit her lip as she fought back the tears. She let the wind carry her steps as she followed the path back to the train.  
  
Her feet lingered on the ground a few seconds longer before freeing themselves form the binds of gravity and into the train.  
  
No more lingering in the past.  
  
"I hope your happy Rude," she whispered.  
  
She smiled, the first time she realized that if Rude was happy then she was too.  
  
She wasn't going to fall, she was too brave to fall.  
  
And whatever the future brought, she wasn't going to fall, but if she did, she would pull herself back.  
*******  
  
Rude was staring at the girl beside him as she leaned against the steps.  
  
"Rude, you're smart, cute, and strong," she said sweetly. "You probably have a girlfriend already."  
  
He gave her a dull smile.  
  
"Well, not really, but there is someone.."  
  
His mind went dark as he remembered her smile, her laugh, her face.  
  
// I want to be with you.  
  
"Who?" she said curiously as she puckered her lips.  
  
He smiled gently.  
  
"This girl, everything about her,she's quite amazing," he paused.  
  
"So, then why don't you ask her out?" the girl said gleefully.  
  
His voice went hollow.  
  
"I would... I would protect her even though she doesn't need me to." his voice became soft. " But, her heart belongs to another, it's not mine to take."  
  
He gave a rueful smile before descending of the steps and into the solemn night.  
  
"Tifa," he whispered softly.  
  
***********************  
  
"Barret!" Cloud shouted. " The Turks."  
  
Barret agilely turned letting the bullets rip out of his gun. The constant thudding of glass shattering on the floor.  
  
Tifa swung her leg briskly until she felt her skin meet her intended target. A red headed man winced from the sudden blow to his leg.  
  
Tifa turned her head, her fist propelling itself against the cold wind blowing against it.  
  
The cold didn't bother her anymore.  
  
Her hand stretched out.  
  
But..  
  
A patted palm held it, holding it back, a wall.  
  
Tifa opened her eyes, staring at the man. His bald scalp held traces and remnants of black. He was peculiarly tall.  
  
But his eyes, they were blanketed by black, hidden from her.  
  
The sun glasses firmly placed on his eyes.  
  
But she knew. Like she knew the colors of apples and snow  
  
It was him.  
  
Even though she couldn't see those endless currents or the green tinted ocean. It was there locked away with all his other emotions behind a tinted shield of gray.  
  
She didn't have to pretend he was her enemy this time. She wasn't going to shudder from her mission, she had to do this, she had to fight him.  
  
But....  
  
She lightened her blow as she swung at Rude. Rude blocked her fist like she knew he would.  
  
He smiled.  
  
"Next time .." she whispered. A rueful smile embraced her lips.  
  
She turned and ran down the dark hall and to Barret's voice.  
  
Rude stared at Tifa as she became nothing but a shadow in the dark.  
  
" She has the grace of a fighter," he said softly to the night. " She always had.." 


End file.
